Thursday, 21 July 2016

There have been a number of high quality economics journals launched in the last decade, including the AEJ series and those published by the Econometric Society. Most existing rankings of journals are not updated to include these. I would like to generate discussion on what is an appropriate ranking of economics journals taking into account these new journals.

A simple approach to measuring impact is to measure citations in top 5 journals. The top 5 general journals (AER, ECMA, JPE, QJE and REStud) are almost universally recognized as the top 5 journals in economics, and clearly above the next set of journals. Citations in these journals are roughly of equal quality. These journals, collectively, also cover all areas of economics.

A similar approach to measuring impact was used in the article "A Journal Ranking for the Ambitious Economist" by Kristie M. Engemann and Howard J. Wall. They used an earlier period that did not include the new journals, and focused on citations in a list of 7 top general journals of a smaller set of journals.

The table below shows the results of an exercise we did in the Department of Economics at the National University of Singapore based on recent periods that allow us to measure the relative impact of the new journals, as well as based on a longer period in which the new journals cannot be compared. To get the impact factor of a journal X published in year t and cited in year k, we got an RA to measure the total number of citations in top 5 articles in year k of articles published in journal X in year t, and divide by the number of articles published in journal X in year t.

To get an impact factor over a range of years, say 2010-2015, we apply the same methodology, so aggregate citations in top 5 journals for years in that window of all articles published in a particular journal in the years in that window, divided by the total number of articles published in that journal in the years in that window.

Note we remove any citations in AER Papers and Proceedings, but otherwise all citations in top 5 journals are treated equally. We do not rank JEL or JEP. We scale impact factors so AER has an impact factor of 1.

The results are given below for the longest period we have data on 2003-2015.

Impact

Relative

Articles

Citations

Factor

Impact

1

Quarterly Journal of Economics

533

2089

3.919

1.786

2

Econometrica

767

2315

3.018

1.375

3

Journal of Political Economy

447

1331

2.978

1.357

4

Review of Economic Studies

619

1359

2.195

1.000

5

American Economic Review

1341

2944

2.195

1.000

6

Journal of Economic Growth (1999)

155

126

0.813

0.370

7

Journal of Monetary Economics

871

687

0.789

0.359

8

Journal of Labor Economics

329

251

0.763

0.348

9

Rand Journal of Economics

510

340

0.667

0.304

10

Journal of Economic Theory

1430

918

0.642

0.292

11

Review of Economics and Statistics

977

608

0.622

0.284

12

Review of Economic Dynamics

514

316

0.615

0.280

13

Journal of Finance

995

544

0.547

0.249

14

International Economic Review

636

330

0.519

0.236

15

American Economic Review May Issue

1262

583

0.462

0.210

16

Experimental Economics (2003)

352

152

0.432

0.197

17

Journal of International Economics

905

389

0.430

0.196

18

Economic Journal

975

367

0.376

0.171

19

Journal of Public Economics

1341

500

0.373

0.170

20

Journal of Human Resources

444

161

0.363

0.165

21

Review of Financial Studies

1003

359

0.358

0.163

22

Games and Economic Behavior

1340

462

0.345

0.157

23

Journal of Econometrics

1510

519

0.344

0.157

24

Journal of Financial Economics

1285

335

0.261

0.119

25

Journal of Industrial Economics

360

90

0.250

0.114

26

Journal of Development Economics

993

230

0.232

0.106

27

Journal of Risk and Uncertainty

309

70

0.227

0.103

28

Journal of Business & Economic
Statistics

502

112

0.223

0.102

29

Journal of Law & Economics

361

79

0.219

0.100

30

Econometric Theory

642

126

0.196

0.089

31

Journal of Applied Econometrics

593

111

0.187

0.085

32

Journal of Economics & Management
Strategy

455

82

0.180

0.082

33

Journal of Urban Economics

659

118

0.179

0.082

34

Economic Theory

1118

197

0.176

0.080

35

Journal of Law, Economics &
Organization

330

51

0.155

0.070

36

Journal of Money, Credit and Banking

991

146

0.147

0.067

37

Scandinavian Journal of Economics

496

68

0.137

0.062

38

Journal of Economic History

398

54

0.136

0.062

39

European Economic Review

1038

128

0.123

0.056

40

International Journal of Industrial
Org

812

91

0.112

0.051

41

Journal of Economic Behavior &
Organization

1851

189

0.102

0.047

42

Journal of Health Economics

981

92

0.094

0.043

43

Economica

480

40

0.083

0.038

44

Oxford Economic Papers-New Series

480

38

0.079

0.036

45

Labour Economics

739

57

0.077

0.035

46

Economic Inquiry

895

67

0.075

0.034

47

Journal of Economic Dynamics & Control

1592

113

0.071

0.032

48

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management

655

46

0.070

0.032

49

Journal of Economic Geography

401

26

0.065

0.030

50

National Tax Journal

412

26

0.063

0.029

51

Regional Science and Urban Economics

668

41

0.061

0.028

52

Journal of Mathematical Economics

825

50

0.061

0.028

53

Explorations in Economic History

329

17

0.052

0.024

54

Journal of Population Economics

581

28

0.048

0.022

55

Journal of Comparative Economics

549

26

0.047

0.022

56

Macroeconomic Dynamics (1998)

601

28

0.047

0.021

57

Social Choice and Welfare

913

42

0.046

0.021

58

Economics Letters

4605

189

0.041

0.019

59

Public Choice

1289

40

0.031

0.014

60

Journal of Accounting & Economics

390

12

0.031

0.014

61

Canadian Journal of Economics

740

16

0.022

0.010

62

American Journal of Agricultural Economics

1072

18

0.017

0.008

63

Health Economics

1218

20

0.016

0.007

64

Journal of Banking & Finance

2460

25

0.010

0.005

65

World Development

1970

14

0.007

0.003

66

Ecological Economics

2755

11

0.004

0.002

Here are the results for the longest period in which we can include all the new AEA and ES journals, which is 2010-2015.

Impact

Relative

Articles

Citations

Factor

Impact

1

Quarterly Journal of Economics

251

445

1.773

1.470

2

Econometrica

395

535

1.354

1.123

3

Journal of Political
Economy

181

222

1.227

1.017

4

American Economic
Review

694

837

1.206

1.000

5

Review of Economic
Studies

304

332

1.092

0.906

6

AEJ: Macro (2009)

193

127

0.658

0.546

7

AEJ: Applied Economics (2009)

229

150

0.655

0.543

8

Theoretical Economics (2006)

138

67

0.486

0.403

9

JEEA (2005)

268

130

0.485

0.402

10

AEJ: Economic Policy
(2009)

229

90

0.393

0.326

11

Quantitative
Economics (2010)

98

37

0.378

0.313

12

AEJ: Micro (2009)

226

82

0.363

0.301

13

Review of Economic
Dynamics

249

80

0.321

0.266

14

Journal of Labor
Economics

158

44

0.278

0.231

15

Journal of Finance

402

111

0.276

0.229

16

Journal of Economic
Theory

714

193

0.270

0.224

17

Journal of Economic
Growth (1999)

73

19

0.260

0.216

18

Review of Economics
and Statistics

527

137

0.260

0.216

19

Rand Journal of
Economics

201

52

0.259

0.215

20

Journal of Monetary
Economics

358

91

0.254

0.211

21

International
Economic Review

299

69

0.231

0.191

22

Journal of
International Economics

463

96

0.207

0.172

23

American Economic
Review May Issue

647

122

0.189

0.156

24

Journal of Business
& Economic Statistics

247

46

0.186

0.154

25

Economic Journal

446

83

0.186

0.154

26

Review of Financial
Studies

584

108

0.185

0.153

27

Journal of
Econometrics

865

128

0.148

0.123

28

Games and Economic
Behavior

761

111

0.146

0.121

29

Journal of Financial
Economics

733

106

0.145

0.120

30

Econometric Theory

280

40

0.143

0.118

31

Journal of Public
Economics

642

84

0.131

0.108

32

Experimental
Economics (2003)

195

25

0.128

0.106

33

Journal of Industrial
Economics

172

19

0.110

0.092

34

Journal of Human
Resources

198

21

0.106

0.088

35

Journal of
Development Economics

523

52

0.099

0.082

36

Economic Theory

433

38

0.088

0.073

37

Journal of Risk and
Uncertainty

143

12

0.084

0.070

38

International Journal
of Industrial Org

362

25

0.069

0.057

39

Journal of Economic
History

191

11

0.058

0.048

40

Journal of Urban
Economics

275

15

0.055

0.045

41

Journal of Money,
Credit and Banking

514

27

0.053

0.044

42

Journal of Applied
Econometrics

310

16

0.052

0.043

43

Journal of Law &
Economics

186

9

0.048

0.040

44

Journal of Economics
& Management Strategy

228

11

0.048

0.040

45

Scandinavian Journal
of Economics

259

11

0.042

0.035

46

European Economic
Review

544

23

0.042

0.035

47

Economic Inquiry

544

21

0.039

0.032

48

Labour Economics

475

18

0.038

0.031

49

Economica

223

8

0.036

0.030

50

Journal of Health
Economics

520

18

0.035

0.029

51

Journal of
Environmental Economics and Management

318

11

0.035

0.029

52

National Tax Journal

206

7

0.034

0.028

53

Journal of Law,
Economics & Organization

180

6

0.033

0.028

54

Journal of
Mathematical Economics

495

15

0.030

0.025

55

Explorations in
Economic History

176

5

0.028

0.024

56

Journal of Economic
Behavior & Organization

1125

30

0.027

0.022

57

Journal of Population
Economics

315

8

0.025

0.021

58

Journal of
Comparative Economics

304

7

0.023

0.019

59

Social Choice and
Welfare

484

9

0.019

0.015

60

Macroeconomic
Dynamics (1998)

378

7

0.019

0.015

61

Economics Letters

2682

44

0.016

0.014

62

Journal of Economic Dynamics
& Control

873

14

0.016

0.013

63

Journal of Economic Geography

256

4

0.016

0.013

64

Health Economics

647

9

0.014

0.012

65

Public Choice

671

9

0.013

0.011

66

Canadian Journal of Economics

333

3

0.009

0.007

67

American Journal of Agricultural
Economics

498

3

0.006

0.005

68

Oxford Economic
Papers-New Series

249

1

0.004

0.003

69

Journal of Banking
& Finance

1578

6

0.004

0.003

70

World Development

1184

4

0.003

0.003

71

Regional Science and
Urban Economics

399

1

0.003

0.002

72

Ecological Economics

1479

1

0.001

0.001

73

Journal of Accounting
& Economics

215

0

0.000

0.000

The new journals come up very strongly. Some traditionally top field journals fall down considerably. To what extent is this citation data picking up real changes in journal quality and impact, and to what extent are the changes driven by some bias that comes from the approach used or that applies when citations are measured for new journals?

I welcome suggestions of alternative rankings that incorporate the new journals or comments on the plausibility of these results. Perhaps you can submit your own ranking (not necessarily of all the journals here). Please clearly identify yourself or your comments will be deleted. I want to encourage a high level discussion on journal ranking methods and results among colleagues in the economics profession. Hopefully, this will lead to a better understanding of how to appropriately rank the new journals along side existing journals.